Harbaugh: Rules on hitting QBs are 'flawed and biased'

Sep. 6, 2013
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Colin Kaepernick and Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers: Harbaugh saw something in Kaepernick the rest of the NFL didn’t when the 49ers traded up to grab Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 draft. Harbaugh showed remarkable confidence in his young signal caller when he chose to stick with him over veteran Alex Smith in November. Kaepernick rewarded that faith by leading the 49ers to the NFC championship. / Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports

"They've got a lot of other (bleep) to worry about than just hitting him. They can hit him and we can take off for 60 yards. They can hit him. He'll get back up."

The issue became a talking point after Packers linebacker Clay Matthews said in multiple interviews this week the plan is to test the NFL's rules on hitting read-option quarterbacks by knocking around Kaepernick whenever they get the chance.

Matthews told ESPN Radio that the Packers began working on "this read-option, pistol, fake offense" on the first day of offseason practices â?? no surprise, given that Kaepernick ran for a QB record 181 yards and two scores as the 49ers won January's divisional playoff matchup 45-31.

Calling the rules "flawed and biased," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh resorted to pantomime at his Friday media conference to illustrate his frustration with the gray area in the explanation he's gotten from the league about when hitting a quarterback carrying out a play fake can be hit.

"When you start using words like 'clearly' â?? he 'clearly' doesn't have the ball â?? then what does that really mean?" Harbaugh said, then stepped back and made an exaggerated pointing motion.

"I just handed it off. I don't have the ball! Who's got the ball?' Or put your hands up?"

Harbaugh acted that out, too, before adding he believes the quarterback should be "a quarterback until he leaves the pocket as a running threat" â?? providing protection for players such as Kaepernick from getting hit in the head or the knees, or getting hit without the ball.

Dean Blandino, the NFL's vice president of officiating, said in his weekly officiating video that the quarterback's posture dictates how he can be contacted on read-option plays and referees have discretion to make the judgment.

In other words, a quarterback who looks like he's running, even if he's not, is to be treated like running backs, who aren't afforded the same protections of the higher-profile position.

"I think they're trying to get rid of these type of quarterbacks," Davis said. "For them to make a rule that's so anti-option-read quarterbacks, it's kind of like sending a message that they eventually want to get rid of them."

Yet more and more teams are incorporating read-option elements into their playbooks, due in large part to the success of Kaepernick, the Washington Redskins' Robert Griffin III and the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson last season.

As Harbaugh pointed out, a play fake is a deceptive maneuver. The better it's carried out, the more easily a defensive player could plausibly claim he believed he was hitting a player who had the ball.

"It just seems to be a flip-flop of what the league's trying to get accomplished: player safety," Harbaugh said. "I've heard (competition committee chair) Rich McKay talking about â?¦ looking into ways to reduce chop blocks or players getting hit at the knee.

"Now, you're really opening up the door and giving a license to defensive players to say, 'I couldn't tell if he clearly had the ball or not, so now we can hit him in the knee or the head.' It doesn't make sense."

There have been discussions about establishing a "strike zone" for where quarterbacks can be hit on such plays, Harbaugh said, but the competition committee told him there's no appetite to look at it further.

Will it all affect how the 49ers approach Sunday's game against the Packers?

"We're going to play football," Harbaugh said. "We're going to play. Kaep's going to play. We're going to play the game."